adidas’ double Olympic gold medallist Britta Steffen paid an early visit to Rome 100 days ahead of the FINA Swimming World Championships.  In between taking in the sights that she will not have time for when competition starts, Britta spoke candidly about how her success at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games has changed her life and training and how she does not expect her sport to endure another year of swimsuit mania.

Britta donned her adidas TECHFIT™ PowerWEB swimsuit to test the water in the breathtaking Trevi Fountain before stopping off at the Colosseum and Spanish Steps during her visit to the Italian capital.  “It was always a dream of mine to visit Rome but I never had the chance nor the time. Now my sport has brought me here and that is something I am really pleased about.“ said Britta Steffen, who gave her legs a good work out on the Spanish Steps. 

Gold medals in the 50m and 100m freestyle events in Beijing have given the 25-year-old German more confidence and freedom to try new sports and training plans.  “After the Games my coach and I decided to vary my training to more than just pool and gym work.  I have started running which has been great to build up my endurance over the winter months.  I can feel the benefits when I am in the water.  It’s great to see more than just the tiles at the bottom of the swimming pool!  Before Beijing I was a little nervous to try out other sports and vary my training too much, but now I am more relaxed and ready to try new things.”

Sitting on the edge of the Trevi Fountain, Britta discussed the benefits of TECHFIT™ PowerWEB and the ongoing swimsuit debate.  “The compression that adidas has brought to this suit is fantastic for my body posture and gives me more power and height when I leave the blocks.  I was really pleased with its performance in Beijing and my success speaks for itself.  Looking ahead to the coming years I don’t believe suits will ever dominate the swimming conversation like they did last year.  The suit is important however swimmers must be fit and have talent to really succeed.”

Looking ahead to the 13th FINA World Championships Britta is taking her qualification for Rome one day at a time, “I don’t think about things too far ahead and really live day to day.  The trials for Rome will take place in Berlin in June so that is my first goal.  Now I am an Olympic champion I have found a real sense of calm.  European and World titles come and go very quickly but I have this title for four years which gives me a lot of breathing space.”

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